The Kids Weigh in on the Money Meltdown

"We're losing all our money." 

"We're bankrupt.  I have to buy my own food now."

"So that thing you said, about the banks being broken?..."

These are the comments I've heard so far from children about the financial meltdown.  "We're losing all our money" has been said repeatedly by my sons.  It is a direct quote from me overheard by my boys last Friday morning when it did appear that everyone was, in fact, losing all of their money.  A couple of days later, I tried to explain the situation so that they would stop saying the phrase over and over again in various contexts - for example, "So we can't order dessert because we're losing all our money?  So I shouldn't ruin my shirt because we can't buy a new one because we're losing all our money?"  This led to the "banks are broken" discussion which understandably didn't clarify anything.  But I'm happy to say that the bankrupt child paying for her own cheerios and chicken nuggets is not one of my own, and I have it from reliable sources that, bankrupt or not, her family fridge is well stocked with no help from her allowance.

It's interesting to see how much the children are absorbing about the situation.  That old saying "Big pitchers have little ears" certainly holds true, at least in my house, because my kids seem to get wind of everything that is going on, good or bad.  In fact the more we try to shield them from specific information, the more determined they are to ferret it out and find out what it means for them.  They already seem to realize that what they don't know may be more important than what they do know.

So the question is, will this new atmosphere of financial insecurity, which from my personal vantage point is affecting both the most comfortable and the least well-off people I know in far reaching and lasting ways, lead to insecurity and fearfulness in our children, or perhaps a better awareness of money and privilege that will serve them well in later life?  I'm hoping for the later, at least here in my fairly cushy suburb.  It doesn't sound so bad for my kids to learn that it's worth wearing a sweatshirt in the house to save a little money on heating costs and that it's better to buy something on sale than not. 

Of course, it's easy for me to look on the bright side and try to teach my children something from this financial fiasco, brought on by so many mistakes by so many people who should have known better and did better, since the reality is that our cutbacks will be what most of the world's population considers to be luxuries. And maybe that's part of the big lesson for all of us, to just be happy that we have enough food in our fridge, regardless of what's in our IRA.  I'm turning off CNN and going to have some cheerios myself.

Comments

[Christine]

Everyday Nicholas asks if Larry if he "lost money today." And Christopher accurately said that the financial problem started because people bought houses they couldn't afford.